WINTER had brought trouble with it to Warpington Vicarage. A new baby had arrived, and the old baby was learning, not in silence, what kings and ministers undergo when they are deposed1. Hester had never greatly cared for the old baby. She was secretly afraid of it. But in its hour of adversity she took to it, and she and Regie spent many hours consoling it for the arrival of the little chrysalis upstairs.
Mrs. Gresley recovered slowly, and before she was downstairs again Regie sickened with one of those swift sudden illnesses of childhood which make childless women thank God for denying them their prayers.
Mrs. Gresley was not well enough to be told, and for many days Mr. Gresley and Hester and Doctor Brown held Regie forcibly back from the valley of the shadow where, since the first cradle was rocked, the soft feet of children have cleft2 so sharp an entrance over the mother hearts that vainly barred the way.
Mr. Gresley’s face grew as thin as Hester’s as the days went by. On his rounds, for he let nothing interfere3 with his work, heavy farmers in dog carts, who opposed him at vestry meetings, stopped to ask after Regie. The most sullen4 of his parishioners touched their hats to him as he passed, and mothers of families who never could be induced to leave their cooking to attend morning service, and were deeply offended at being called “after-dinner Christians” in consequence, forgot the opprobrious5 term, and brought little offerings of new-laid eggs and rosy6 apples to tempt7 “the little master.”
Mr. Gresley was touched, grateful.
“I don’t think I have always done them justice,” he actually said to Hester one day. “They do seem to understand me a little better at last. Walsh has never spoken to me since my sermon on Dissent8, though I always make a point of being friendly to him, but to-day he stopped and said he knew what trouble was, and how he had lost”— Mr. Gresley’s voice faltered9, “It is a long time ago — but how, when he was about my age, he lost his eldest10 boy, and how he always remembered Regie in his prayers, and I must keep up a good heart. We shook hands,” said Mr. Gresley. “I sometimes think Walsh means well, and that he may be a good-hearted man after all.”
Beneath the arrogance11 which a belief in Apostolic succession seems to induce in natures like Mr. Gresley’s, as mountain air induces asthma12 in certain lungs, the shaft13 of agonised anxiety had pierced to a thin layer of humility14. Hester knew that that layer was only momentarily disturbed, and that the old self would infallibly reassert itself, but the momentary15 glimpse drew her heart towards her brother. He was conscious of it, and love almost grew between them as they watched by Regie’s bed.
At last, after an endless night, the little faltering16 feet came to the dividing of the ways, and hesitated. The dawn fell grey on the watchful17 faces of the doctor and Hester, and on the dumb suspense18 of the poor father. And with a sigh, as one who half knows he is making a life-long mistake, Regie settled himself against Hester’s shoulder and fell asleep.
The hours passed. The light grew strong, and still Regie slept. Doctor Brown put cushions behind Hester, and gave her food. He looked anxiously at her. “Can you manage?” he whispered later, when the sun was streaming in at the nursery window. And she smiled back in scorn. Could she manage? What did he take her for?
At last Regie stretched himself and opened his eyes. The doctor took him gently from Hester, gave him food, and laid him down.
“He is all right,” he said. “He will sleep all day.”
Mr. Gresley, who had hardly stirred, hid his face in his hands.
“Don’t try to move, Miss Hester,” said Doctor Brown gently.
Hester did not try. She could not. Her hands and face were rigid19. She looked at him in terror. “I shall have to scream in another moment,” she whispered.
The old doctor picked her up, and carried her swiftly to her room, where Fraülein ministered to her.
At last he came down and found Mr. Gresley waiting for him at the foot of the stair.
“You are sure he is all right?” he asked.
“Sure! Fraülein is with him. He got the turn at dawn.”
“Thank God!”
“Well, I should say thank your sister too. She saved him. I tell you, Gresley, neither you nor I could have sat all those hours without stirring as she did. She had cramp20 after the first hour. She has a will of iron in that weak body of hers.”
“I had no idea she was uncomfortable,” said Mr. Gresley, half incredulous.
“That is one of the reasons why I always say you ought not to be a clergyman,” snapped the little doctor, and was gone.
Mr. Gresley was not offended. He was too overwhelmed with thankfulness to be piqued21.
“Good old Brown,” he said indulgently. “He has been up all night, and he is so tired he does not know he is talking nonsense. As if a man who did not understand cramp was not qualified22 to be a priest. Ha! Ha! He always likes to have a little hit at me, and he is welcome to it. I must just creep up and kiss dear Hester. I never should have thought she had it in her to care for any one as she has shown she cares for Regie. I shall tell her so, and how surprised I am, and how I love her for it. She has always seemed so insensible, so callous23. But, please God, this is the beginning of a new life for her. If it is she shall never hear one word of reproach about the past from me.”
A day or two later the Bishop24 of Southminster had a touch of rheumatism25, and Doctor Brown attended him. This momentary malady26 may possibly account to the reader for an incident which remained to the end of life inexplicable27 to Mr. Gresley.
Two days after Regie had taken the turn towards health, and on the afternoon of the very same day when Doctor Brown had interviewed the Bishop’s rheumatism, the episcopal carriage might have been seen squeezing its august proportions into the narrow drive of Warpington Vicarage; at least, it was always called the drive, though the horses’ noses were reflected in the glass of the front door while the hind-wheels still jarred the gate-posts.
Out of the carriage stepped, not the Bishop, but the tall figure of Dick Vernon, who rang the bell, and then examined a crack in the portico28.
He had plenty of time to do so.
“Lord! what fools!” he said half aloud. “The crazy thing is shouting out that it is going to drop on their heads, and they put a clamp across the crack. Might as well put a respirator on a South Sea Islander. Is Mr. Gresley in? Well then, just ask him to step this way, will you? Look here, James, if you want to be had up for manslaughter, you leave this porch as it is. No, I did not drive over from Southminster on purpose to tell you, but I mention it now I am here.”
“I added the portico myself when I came here,” said Mr. Gresley stiffly, who had not forgotten or forgiven the enormity of Dick’s behaviour at the temperance meeting.
“So I should have thought,” said Dick, warming to the subject, and mounting on a small garden-chair. “And some escaped lunatic has put a clamp on the stucco.”
“I placed the clamp myself,” replied Mr. Gresley. “There really is no necessity for you to waste your time and mine here. I understand the portico perfectly29. The crack is merely superficial.”
“Is it?” said Dick; “then why does it run round those two consumptive little pillars? I tell you it’s tired of standing30 up. It’s going to sit down. Look here”— Dick tore at the stucco with his knife, and caught the clamp as it fell —“that clamp was only put in the stucco. It never reached the stone or the wood, whichever the little kennel31 is made of. You ought to be thankful it did not drop on one of the children, or on your own head. It would have knocked all the texts out of it for some time to come.”
Mr Gresley did not look very grateful as he led the way to his study.
“I was lunching with the Bishop to-day,” said Dick, “and Doctor Brown was there. He told us about the trouble here. He said the little chap Regie was going on like a house on fire. The Bishop told me to ask after him particularly.”
“He is wonderfully better every day,” said Mr. Gresley softening32. “How kind of the Bishop to send you to inquire. Not having children himself, I should never have thought —”
“No,” said Dick, “you wouldn’t. Do you remember when we were at Cheam, and Ogilvy’s marked sovereign was found in the pocket of my flannel33 trousers. You were the only one of the boys, you and that sneak34 Field, who was not sure I might not have taken it. You said it looked awfully35 bad, and so it did.”
“No one was gladder than I was when it was cleared up,” said Mr. Gresley.
“No,” said Dick; “but we don’t care much what any one thinks when it’s cleared up. It’s before that matters. Is Hester in? I’ve two notes for her. One from Brown, and one from the Bishop, and my orders are to take her back with me. That is why the Bishop sent the carriage.”
“I am afraid Hester will hardly care to leave us at present,” said Mr. Gresley. “My wife is on her sofa, and Regie is still very weak. He has taken one of those unaccountable fancies of children for her, and can hardly bear her out of his sight.”
“The Bishop has taken another of those unaccountable fancies for her,” said Dick, looking full at Mr. Gresley in an unpleasant manner. “I’m not one that holds that parsons should have their own way in everything. I’ve seen too much of missionaries36. I just shove out curates and vicars and all that small fry if they get in my way. But when they break out in buttons and gaiters, by Jove, I knock under to them, at least, I do to men like the Bishop. He knows a thing or two. He has told me not to come back without Hester, and I’m not going to. Ah! There she is in the garden.” Dick’s large back had been turned towards the window, but he had seen the reflection of a passing figure in the glass of a framed testimonial which occupied a prominent place on the study wall, and he at once marched out into the garden and presented the letters to Hester.
Hester was bewildered at the thought of leaving Warpington, into which she seemed to have grown like a Buddhist37 into his tree. She was reluctant, would think it over, &c. But Dick, after one glance at her strained face, was obdurate38. He would hear no reason. He would not go away. She and Fraülein nervously39 cast a few clothes into a box, Fraülein so excited by the apparition40 of a young man and a possible love affair, that she could hardly fold Hester’s tea-gowns.
When Hester came down with her hat on she found Dick untyring Mr. Gresley’s bicycle in the most friendly manner while the outraged41 owner stood by remonstrating42.
“I assure you, Dick, I don’t wish it to be touched. I know my own machine. If it were a common puncture43 I could mend it myself, but I don’t want the whole thing ruined by an ignorant person. I shall take it in to Southminster on the first opportunity.”
“No need to do that,” said Dick cheerfully. “Might as well go to a doctor to have your nails cut. Do it at home. You don’t believe in the water test? Oh! that’s rot. You’ll believe in it when you see it. You’re learning it now. There! Now I’ve got it in the pail; see all these blooming little bubbles jostling up in a row. There’s a leak at the valve. No, there isn’t. It’s only unscrewed. Good Lord, James, it’s only unscrewed, and you thought the whole machine was out of order. There, now, I’ve screwed it up. Devil a bubble! What’s that you’re saying about swearing in your presence? Oh! don’t apologise! You can’t help being a clergyman. Look for yourself. You will never learn if you look the other way just when a good-natured chap is showing you. I would have put the tyre on again, but as you say you can do it better yourself, I won’t. Sorry to keep you waiting, Hester. And look here, James, you ought to bicycle more. Strengthen your legs for playing the harmonium on Sundays. Well, I could not tell you had an organ in that little one-horse church. Good-bye, Fraülein, good-bye, James. Home, Coleman. And look here,” said Dick, putting his mischievous44 face out of the window as the carriage turned, “if you are getting up steam for another temperance meeting I’m your man.”
“Good-bye, dear James,” interrupted Hester hastily, and the carriage drove away.
“He looks pasty,” said Dick, after an interval45. “A chap like James has no power in his arms and legs. He can kneel down in church, and put his arm round Mrs. Gresley’s waist, but that’s about all he’s up to. He doesn’t take enough exercise.”
“He is not well. I don’t think I ought to have left them.”
“You had no choice. Brown said, unless you could be got away at once you would be laid up. I was at luncheon46 at the Palace when he said it. The Bishop’s sister was too busy with her good works to come herself so I came instead. I said I should not come back alive without you. They seemed to think I should all the same, but of course that was absurd. I wanted the Bishop to bet upon it, but he wouldn’t.”
“Do you always get what you want?” said Hester.
“Generally, if it depends on myself. But sometimes things depend on others besides me. Then I may be beaten.”
They were passing Westhope Abbey wrapped in a glory of sunset and mist.
“Did you know Miss West was there?” Dick said suddenly.
“No,” said Hester surprised. “I thought she was in London.”
“She came down last night to be with Lady Newhaven who is not well. Miss West is a great friend of yours, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Well, she has one fault, and it is one I can’t put up with. She won’t look at me.”
“Don’t put up with it,” said Hester softly. “We women all have our faults, dear Dick. But if men point them out to us in a nice way we can sometimes cure them.”
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1
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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opprobrious
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| adj.可耻的，辱骂的 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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9
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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10
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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asthma
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| n.气喘病，哮喘病 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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19
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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cramp
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| n.痉挛；[pl.](腹)绞痛；vt.限制，束缚 | |
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piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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30
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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Buddhist
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| adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒 | |
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obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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42
remonstrating
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的现在分词 )；告诫 | |
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43
puncture
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| n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破 | |
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44
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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45
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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